Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian olive pickers and a Washington Post photojournalist in the occupied West Bank on Friday, beating farmers and setting fire to olive groves, witnesses said.
Heidi Levine, a 64-year-old American freelance photojournalist, was taken to hospital after being assaulted near Abu Falah, north-east of Ramallah. A Palestinian man was also shot in the thigh by Israeli soldiers, according to a witness cited by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Photojournalist beaten during olive harvest attack
Dozens of masked settlers targeted Palestinians gathering their harvest, throwing stones, using slingshots and setting trees ablaze, according to witnesses.
Levine, who was wearing a protective vest marked “PRESS” on the front and back, fell to the ground and was then attacked. Her cameras and phone were taken during the assault, the Washington Post reported.
Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who witnessed the incident, said Levine was surrounded, beaten, kicked and robbed. “We looked and saw that there was a journalist … on the ground with people surrounding her, beating her, clubbing her, robbing her, pulling her up, beating her again and kicking her,” he said.
Levine later told reporters that her attackers “just kept kicking me and kicking me, like probably 50 times”.
Nathaniel said he and others reached her when the settlers briefly moved away, but she was unable to stand. As they helped her towards paramedics, the attackers returned and threw more stones, he said.
Israeli soldiers arrived after the settler assault and fired weapons and tear gas at Palestinians, according to Nathaniel and Wafa. Nathaniel said soldiers shot a Palestinian man in the leg and pointed their guns at paramedics treating him.
“We are outraged by this unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job and urge a thorough investigation and follow-through from authorities,” Matt Murray, executive editor of the Washington Post, said in a statement.
Further attacks reported in West Bank communities
Violence was also reported in other parts of the West Bank as Palestinians gathered olives. Four Palestinians were said to have been injured in an attack on pickers in Burqa, east of Ramallah, while farmers in nearby Turmus Aya were assaulted and vehicles and olive trees were set on fire.
A civil defence volunteer was also injured in Turmus Aya, according to Wafa. The incidents followed the death of Ali Hassan Yasser al-Bazzari, 44, during an assault on Palestinians harvesting olives near Burqa on October 7.
Journalists covering the violence have also been targeted. On October 6, armed settlers beat Palestinian AFP photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh, 58, with rifle butts near Aqraba, south of Nablus, leaving him with head and torso injuries, according to witnesses, relatives and colleagues.
The attacks have intensified during the annual olive harvest. Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, has recorded at least 170 incidents since September 27, when the harvest began, Reuters reported.
The violence has threatened Palestinian farmers’ access to their land and livelihoods, with trees destroyed, crops stolen and olives taken from Palestinian-owned groves. Palestinian homes and vehicles have also been targeted, according to reports from the area.
